Top schools in each category
earn “bragging rights”, while
the winners of each are recognized
with an award made of recycled
glass.

“RecycleMania’s success comes
from its ability to use competitive
spirit and campus rivalries
to motivate students who are
less likely to respond to ‘save
the earth’ kinds of messages,”
according to Stacy Wheeler,
professor at the University
of North Florida and co-founder
of the RecycleMania competition.

The spirit of friendly competition
sparked huge environmental
gains. The total amount
of recyclables and organic
materials recovered during
the 2009 competition added
up to 69.4 million pounds,
which in turn prevented the
release of 88,739 metric tons
of carbon dioxide equivalent
(MTCO2E). In real world terms,
this reduction in greenhouse
gases is equivalent to the
annual emissions from 16,187
passenger cars; electricity
use of 12,258 homes; or
burning of 462 railcars’
worth of coal.

Colleges and universities
chose to participate in one
of two divisions, either the
Competition or Benchmark.
The Competition Division houses
the traditional competitive
rankings based on standard
tracking and reporting criteria.

The Benchmark Division allows
schools to unofficially compare
themselves with others and
to promote RecycleMania on
campus without the formal
reporting requirements of
the competitive ranking.

Within each division, schools
participate in any of eight
categories, including the
“Grand Champion,” which measures
recycling as a percentage
of the total waste generation;
the “Per Capita Classic,”
which measures the largest
amount of combined recyclables
per person; the “Waste Minimization”
competition, which tracks
the lowest amount of waste
per person; and the “Gorilla”
Prize, which acknowledges
the schools with the highest
total combined recycling weights.
In addition to these main
categories, schools also compete
in targeted material categories
on a per capita basis.

The “Grand Champion” top three
finalists, determined by the
percentage of overall waste
that is recycled over ten
weeks, are: